Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Police have backed away from today's deadline for the lowering of separatist flags in West Papua, saying that any attempt to enforce it would have provoked more bloody clashes in the troubled Indonesian province.

A compromise was reached late on Tuesday between local police and military chiefs, the governor and the pro-independence Presidium of the Papua Council, to extend the deadline until council leaders could meet President Abdurrahman Wahid, a West Papua police spokesman said. West Papua was formerly known as Irian Jaya.

Jakarta had earlier ordered a crackdown on pro-independence groups, including 22,000 militia who say they will fight to stop the flags being lowered. But the provincial police chief, Brigadier-General Sylvanus Wenas, yesterday told the Herald that he saw it as his duty "to ensure there are no victims". "I do not support using force to lower the flags at this time," General Wenas said. "It would cause many victims."

But the Government is transferring him back to Jakarta as part of a national reshuffle of senior police officers, and there are fears that his replacement will adopt a more hardline approach.

Human rights and church groups say that until police announced the decision not to pull down dozens of Morning Star flags in most towns of the province, widespread violence had appeared inevitable.

They warned last night that a violent showdown would only be delayed if proposed talks between Government and pro-independence leaders reached a compromise. "It looks bad," a church official said. "The Government's handling of this has been incompetent. Do they not understand how volatile the situation here is?"

Thousands of highland villagers, who say they are prepared to fight, have been converging on the capital, Jayapura, where 4,000 pro-independence militia armed with clubs are guarding three flagpoles in separate locations.

Indonesia's Cabinet last week imposed a ban on flying the flag, saying it had become a symbol of independence for about one million indigenous Papuans. Earlier, Mr Wahid had said the flags, which were banned during the 32-year rule of Soeharto, could be raised as long as they flew alongside but below the Indonesian flag.

The ban followed bloody clashes in the highlands town of Wamena on October 6 when about 40 people, mostly Indonesian settlers, were killed when villagers started rampaging as police cut down a pole flying the flag.

General Wenas said any move by police today to lower the flag would also have provoked clashes between rival community groups. He said many villagers believed that flying the flag meant they had obtained their freedom.

"But I ask them what does freedom mean," he said. "They really think it means they can take whatever they want, they can do anything. They think it means there is no longer any rule of law."

General Wenas foreshadowed a crackdown on the militia, many of whom were criminals who extorted money and favours from the community, he said. Pro-independence leaders insist on meeting Mr Wahid to ask him to explain what they see as inconsistent policies toward West Papua.